A portable terminal (electronic apparatus) such as a camera-equipped portable phone includes a camera module (solid-state image pickup device). Many camera-equipped portable phones have a closeup mode (macro photography mode) used to photograph a flower and the like in a closeup manner, in addition to a normal photography mode used to photograph a person, scenery and the like.
Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a camera module having a macro photography function. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the camera module of Patent Document 1. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the camera module 600 includes: a circuit board 601; a CMOS sensor 602 mounted on the circuit board 601; and a lens holder 604 containing the CMOS sensor 602.
The camera module 600 further includes a lens barrel 632 holding a lens 631, the lens barrel 632 being held inside the lens holder 604. Further, the lens holder 604 has a screw section 604a formed on its internal wall, and the lens barrel 632 has a screw section 632a formed on its outer periphery so that the screw section 632a is engaged with the screw section 604a. With the arrangement, when a macro lever 606 is operated for a mode selection, the lens barrel 632 is moved in sync with the macro lever 606. As a result, the lens 631 is moved so as to have a focal length in accordance with the mode thus selected.
However, the arrangement of Patent Document 1 poses a problem that imaging defects are caused by contamination by dirt in a light path.
Specifically, according to Patent Document 1, when a mode is selected, a friction between the lens holder 604 (the screw section 604a) and the lens barrel 632 (the screw section 632a) causes dirt and/or scrap. Since the lens barrel 632 is held inside the lens holder 604, the dirt thus caused adheres to an optical filter 605 present in the light path. Consequently, the dirt on the optical filter 605 casts a shadow on the CMOS sensor 602. This causes a black dot or stain to be reflected in an outputted image, thereby leading to a decrease in yield and reliability of the camera module 600.
As described above, according to Patent Document 1, the lens barrel 632 is held inside the lens holder 604, and therefore a contamination path for a foreign object such as dirt is formed in the light path. This causes direct contamination by the dirt caused as above into the light path, thereby causing an imaging defect.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 163707/2007 (Tokukai 2007-163707; published on Jun. 28, 2007)